Planning New Store For Austin, TX

[Hondo69]

My wife and I are finalizing plans to open a store in Austin, TX and about to take the plunge. But with so many choices of overlapping brands and product types we don’t want customers to be confused with too many options. In other words, save them all the hassle of trial and error that most of us go through and only offer the best of the bunch. Keep it simple.

We do, however, want to cover all the bases by offering:
• A mini starter kit (low cost entry level)
• Fat bat kit (like EGO or RIVA)
• Bottom feeder like Revolution
• Eventually a custom mod product

We’ve begun building a web site in order to sell nationwide too (XT9 Site) and planning to keep that easy to use too. So many sites are a ball of confusion. After testing tons of products, talking to lots of people and spending hours on the forum seems the approach that appears the least confusing is ensure all products use the same threading (probably 510).

Now we can always offer adapters along with the standard accessories like eliquid, but again, want to keep it simple for newbies. So there’s that balancing act of offering products that are the best bang for the buck and painting yourself into a corner by only selling one threading type. It’s a tough one for sure and any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[caveman]

This is awesome!!!!! I live in Waco, but travel to Austin quite a bit....Saved this thread, when its up and running ill be sure to stop by! IF YOU NEED EMPLOYEES ILL MOVE!!!

 

[wendallb]

Good Luck with your venture, I hope it goes well for you..

Not from Austin but I visit at times..

 

[pchela]

I'm in Austin. Are you going to be brick and mortar and if so, where in Austin? I'll come work for you if you need employees! Already know lots about ecigs. : )

 

[Hondo69]

Hey there all. We hope we'll need employees soon but still looking for a good brick and mortar location. Had one lined up in north Austin but turns out the landlord is, shall we say "special".

You'd think space would be cheap these days with the economy and everything, but not so.

Sometimes you just want to throw your hands in the air and say, "just build it and they will come".

 

[krashnash]

Hi Hondo69,

I'm in Austin also, just wanted to pop in and wish you the best of luck...

As you consider your product offerings for your brick and mortar, keep in mind that newbies don't stay newbies for long. I tried to stay local when I started vaping, as I truly believe in "keeping Austin weird", but there's nobody in town that I can find that offers maintenance supplies (decent USA-made e-liquid, variety of cartomizers/attys/spare batts) nor is there anybody with mods or 5V boxes or anything that I would find interesting now. Local B&M offerings that I have found are limited to mini-kits and Chinese juice at premium prices.

Again, I wish you much luck, and hope you find your niche here!

~krashnash

 

[pchela]

I agree with krashnash. I've been all over Austin and can't find anything decent to buy! Maybe I should consider taking up juice making... you'll need good juice in your store! I wonder if any of the known suppliers would sell wholesale to a brick and mortar?

Either of you woodworkers or electricians? Finely crafted bottom fed box mods are extremely popular right now.

What locations are you looking at? 183 is always a good choice. Or something close to me... say, out on 620 and 2222? : )

 

[woody55]

Good luck Hondo69. I visit Austin all the time. I am in north Texas.

 

[Hondo69]

Hey all. Thanks for the good advice, it really helps when you're making a bunch of tough decisions.

Location: Tried to find something central with easy access, but those are very high dollar. Right now I'm honed into the Burnet Road area and have a few nibbles there. Plus, I've always liked that area.

Kits: Should be in pretty good shape with these. Just want to offer the best bang for the buck.

Parts: Not as easy as I thought. Suppliers are good at selling the boxed kits, guess it fit's their assembly lines. But odds and ends like batteries, cones, adapters, etc. seem to throw them a curve ball. I think their supply chain system is totally different from what we're used to. There's only a few true manufacturers.

I've always operated under the belief that you make your money when you buy, not when you sell. And these suppliers have prices that are all over the place. So it's been a challenge to find the best quality products at a fair price. But we'll get there.

Eliquid: I have my favorites (US made), but need to start contacting some of these guys. Surely I can wrangle a deal with a top quality supplier that wants to move some products and get their name out there.

Mods: Totally uneducated in this area. It's fun to read about all the innovative designs out there and watch the videos too. I really like Pchela's idea about contacting a few woodworker and cooking up something cool. Personally, I'm neither artistic or patient enough for this kind of work but I know a few people who are and that's all I need. Spent some time over the weekend trying to dig up some of the tiny parts used in mods and didn't have much luck. Love to find what I need to make a variable voltage mod.

The low risk way to go is get the web site doctored up just right and get some business going there first. But if I can find a decent space is a nice location I don't see any reason why we can't do both at the same time.

Thanks again for all the well wishes and advice. It's important to me and I appreciate it very much

 

[TxMagic]

If you're going to do it in Austin, think outside the box (brick & mortar). Don't limit yourself to one area of town. The entire city's untapped. Be unique. Think "airstream" . . . a vaping trailer . . . like the local traveling food trailers but with non-cuisine generated plumage. Pick your favorite weekly farmers market(s), weekend/daytime foot traffic locations, and standard events (Pecan St, ACL, SXSW). Carry portable outdoor seating, couple of umbrellas, you've got an instant lounge. (Extra income selling bottled water in this weather!) Set your own schedule with routine spots by day of the week. Twitter your location each day or show locations on your website so customers can find you when they're running low on juice. We are a city that's connected. Work it right with news releases and the media will pick up on it in a heart beat. It's Austin. We pick up on anything new, different, weird or green . . . flavorful "juice of the week" will draw the customers. Yes, this might take some extra wheeling/dealing/coordinating but it's so Austin. Keep the prices reasonable and your image appealing to the quirky side in all of us. It's a gold mine. (Just wish I had access to the funds to set it up and get it rolling.) Austin's a ready market for anybody with start-up dollars, delicious quality juice, and a personality to match this city. Bet before long you'll even attract local craftsmen/artists wanting to build your stock of unique quality box mods, and design battery wraps, lanyards, etc.

Just my thoughts on your new venture in this beautiful city of ours. Best wishes to you and yours. Hope to see you on S. Congress!

 

[Hondo69]

Excellent idea TxMagic.

I hadn't thought of going that way at all until I read your message. Really got the juices going, pardon the pun. I actually have a buddy who has a buddy with a trailer that I don't think is being used at all these days. Going to give him a call when I get back in town in a few days. He's very creative and artistic.

Right now we're sorting out which products to include in our lineup by doing a bunch of testing and trying different combinations with different juices. Eventually, we want a full assortment to fit many needs (parts, etc) but also have a few basic packages for newbies. And everything will be at fair prices as we want to be known for offering a great product/price combination.

So we definitely need to kick these ideas around some and I'll bet we get it dialed in pretty soon. Really appreciate the help because we want to do this right.

 

[dopamine]

ooooh I live RIGHT off Burnet! Go for it!

 

[warlike36]

If you're going to do it in Austin, think outside the box (brick & mortar). Don't limit yourself to one area of town. The entire city's untapped. Be unique. Think "airstream" . . . a vaping trailer . . . like the local traveling food trailers but with non-cuisine generated plumage. Pick your favorite weekly farmers market(s), weekend/daytime foot traffic locations, and standard events (Pecan St, ACL, SXSW). Carry portable outdoor seating, couple of umbrellas, you've got an instant lounge. (Extra income selling bottled water in this weather!) Set your own schedule with routine spots by day of the week. Twitter your location each day or show locations on your website so customers can find you when they're running low on juice. We are a city that's connected. Work it right with news releases and the media will pick up on it in a heart beat. It's Austin. We pick up on anything new, different, weird or green . . . flavorful "juice of the week" will draw the customers. Yes, this might take some extra wheeling/dealing/coordinating but it's so Austin. Keep the prices reasonable and your image appealing to the quirky side in all of us. It's a gold mine. (Just wish I had access to the funds to set it up and get it rolling.) Austin's a ready market for anybody with start-up dollars, delicious quality juice, and a personality to match this city. Bet before long you'll even attract local craftsmen/artists wanting to build your stock of unique quality box mods, and design battery wraps, lanyards, etc.

Just my thoughts on your new venture in this beautiful city of ours. Best wishes to you and yours. Hope to see you on S. Congress!

+100... Very good idea..in my modest opinion of coarse. And think about hiring this person, would be a great addition...very creative and thoughtful. Again just an opinion.